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Saturn/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim is looking through a large telescope. Moby hands Tim a sheet of paper. MOBY: Beep. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, how did Saturn get its rings? From, Ariel. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it's all about the rings. Some have called the rings of Saturn the most beautiful phenomenon in the solar system. In pictures, they look like solid bands, but they're actually composed of small particles orbiting the planet. An image shows the planet Saturn and its rings. TIM: The dust and bits of ice and rock that make up the rings look solid from far away, and they refract the Sun's rays to produce all those pretty colors. An animation shows the particles Tim describes. TIM: Even though the rings around Saturn are more than two hundred and seventy thousand kilometers in diameter, the rings are usually no more than about a kilometer thick, on average. The rings form bands that are lettered in order of discovery. An illustration shows several of Saturn's concentric bands from above. They are lettered: d, c, b, a, f, g, e. TIM: Where the ice and dust came from in the first place is a bit of a mystery. They may be left over from Saturn's formation, or possibly the remnants of a moon or asteroid that was somehow torn apart! MOBY: Beep. Images illustrate the possibilities Tim describes. TIM: Speaking of moons, scientists have discovered about sixty moons orbiting Saturn. An animation shows several of Saturn's moons orbiting the planet. TIM: Some of these seem to be important in keeping the rings in place. These are called shepherd moons. An animation shows a shepherd moon orbiting Saturn between two of Saturn's bands. TIM: Saturn is also the mother planet of the moon Titan, the second largest moon in the solar system and one of the only moons we know of with a significant atmosphere. An animation shows Titan. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, okay. Back to Saturn! The image of Titan is replaced by an image of Saturn. TIM: Saturn is a gas giant and the sixth planet from the Sun between Jupiter and Uranus. An animation moves outward from the Sun and past the first five planets, stopping at Saturn. TIM: Its gaseous atmosphere consists of mostly hydrogen and helium, along with trace amounts of methane, sulfur, ammonia, and water vapor. Go deeper and you'll find a layer of molecular hydrogen, then liquid metallic hydrogen, and finally a small, rocky core. A cross-section of Saturn illustrates the structures Tim describes. TIM: Saturn may be one hundred times as massive as the Earth, but all that mass is pretty spread out, giving Saturn a really low density. An animation shows a tiny Earth next to a large Saturn. TIM: In fact, if you threw Saturn into a giant lake; it would float! An animation shows Saturn floating in a large lake, next to Tim and Moby, who are in a rowboat. TIM: All that's pretty cool, but Saturn's spectacular rings have earned it the name "the Jewel of the Solar System!" MOBY: Beep. A sound is heard. Moby is playing with a hula-hoop, spinning it around his hips by moving them back and forth. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yes, I get it. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Science Transcripts